A Few Garden Photos

Things are shaping up in the garden for an imminent harvest of many things. Here are some photos:

The first is not from the garden, but today's farmer's market purchase. Cukes and dill for pickling later today. I'm going to do some fermented sour pickles in a crock and some with vinegar because the kids prefer those. Advice to parents of young children: don't start your kids on store-bought foods if you want them to prefer homegrown and home-preserved! Or at least, by age 5 have them eating this stuff if you can manage it. Our kids already have strong preferences for what they're used to eating. I understand because I was like that as a kid. We'll turn 'em around eventually... We've got two broccoli heads almost ready to eat, and two that are slower-growing. They look beautiful!This was the only green bean I could find to photograph, but I'm sure there are more hiding in there somewhere. And the sauerkraut-to-be. "We" are picking many cabbage worms off every day (George is, at least, though I'll scout them out for him now).We've got a couple red peppers and some green bells and a bunch of jalapenos that are almost ready. The bell pepper plants only have one or two peppers per plant. What's up with that? I think it's the slow start to this summer, they just didn't get going enough. It's still cool here in August--69 degrees at 9 a.m. this morning. I love it but the peppers don't!Today we'll pick these grapes, too, to make juice and jam or jelly. I'm hoping George will get this started while I'm at work for a few hours, but we'll see. It's time to get these done before the birds eat them all. We're getting scolded by them whenever we get near the vines!Jessica, these are your "Texas Wild" tomatoes. They're yummy! I think they're in a bit of a shock at their cold Minnesota conditions, but they are beautiful and have grown well if a bit slowly here. Thanks for sending the seeds last spring. We ate fresh tomatoes and basil with spaghetti the other night. Here's approximately what I did (from this Lynn Rosetto Casper recipe), though I wasn't precise on measurements and I used whatever tomatoes we had ready from the garden--a combination of the Texas cherries and some "Red Calabash" heirloom tomatoes that we also started from seed:

1 cup very coarse fresh bread crumbs, for garnish
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3-1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cups yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups red cherry tomatoes, halved
12 ounces fettuccine pasta
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Place the bread crumbs on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and toss the bread crumbs to distribute the oil evenly. Season the bread crumbs with salt and pepper. Bake in the middle of the oven, tossing occasionally, until they turn golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil and the balsamic vinegar to make a vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and stir together. Set aside.
4. Fill a large pot three-quarters full with salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.
5. Drain the pasta and toss with the tomatoes and vinaigrette. Place in a serving bowl and garnish with the basil and bread crumbs. Serve immediately.